Rapport commun sur la mission d'observation au camp de Moria à Lesbos

TRIAL OBSERVATION REPORT
THE ‘MORIA 35’ CASE
20 April 2018 to 27 April 2018
Chios, Greece
Report about the trial of 35 people arrested in Moria camp (Lesbos, Greece) in July 2017,
written by international observers from:
France - Avocats Sans Frontières France - Domitille NICOLET
France - Gisti / Migreurop - Solène DUCCI
Netherlands - European Democratic Lawyers - Hans GAASBEEK, co-president of the Dutch
League of Human Rights
Netherlands - European Democratic Lawyers - Symone GAASBEEK-WIELINGA
United Kingdom - Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers - Jim NICHOL

CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Context
1.2. Trial observation aims
1.3. Pre-trial observations
2. THE ‘MORIA 35’TRIAL
2.1 Introduction
2.1.1 The Chios Court
2.1.2 The President of the Court
2.1.3 The Prosecutor
2.1.4 The Interpreters
2.1.5 The Lawyers
2.1.6 The Defendants
2.2 Day by day observations of the trial
2.2.1 Friday, 20 April 2018 – First day of the trial
2.2.2 Monday, 23 April 2018 – Second day of the trial
2.2.3 Thursday, 26 April 2018 – Third day of the trial
2.2.4 Friday, 27 April 2018 – Last day of the trial
2.2.5 Other observations
2.2.6 End of the trial
3. BREACHES OF HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS IN THE MORIA 35 TRIAL
3.1 Breaches at the pre-trial stage
3.1.1 The arrests in Moria
3.1.2 Proceedings prior to trial
3.1.2.1 Detention
3.1.2.2 Delay
3.1.2.3 Translation
3.2 Breaches during the trial
3.2.1 Assistance of an interpreter
3.2.2 Ability to present case
3.2.3 Presumption of innocence Art 6(2) and the impartiality of the Tribunal Art
6(1)
4. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE TRIAL OBSERVATION DELEGATION
5. UPDATES
4

APPENDICES
1. LCL – Pre trial Legal Observers Summary of Moria 35 Case
2. Press release of the international observers
3. Press articles about the case (in Italian, French and English)
4. Interview with five defendants
5. Map of Moria Camp
6. Hellenic Republic - National situation of the islands of the eastern Aegean Sea, 20 May
2018
5

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Context
A brief look at the background and legal context is needed to understand the trial of the “Moria 35”,
held on the Greek island of Chios on 20-27 April 2018.
Under Greek Law 4375 which implements the EU 2013 ‘Procedures Directive’,1
upon arrival in the
Greek islands, migrants must be registered within a Reception and Identification Centre and have
their requests for asylum considered by the Greek authorities on an individual basis.
Migrants who do not request asylum, or whose requests for asylum are deemed unfounded or
inadmissible, face the prospect of being returned to Turkey or their country of origin.
Since the EU-Turkey deal of 18 March 2016,2
the number of asylum requests from people arriving
on the Greek islands increased dramatically.3
Asylum procedures in the proceeding 2 years have
been widely reported as painfully slow.
The deal itself has provoked many strong protests, including by migrants in the overcrowded Moria
camp on Lesbos island (more than 7,000 people were being held in the camp, which had a
maximum capacity of 2,500).
On 18 July 2017, 35 residents of Moria were arrested after a large demonstration in the camp
against inhumane living conditions, restriction of movement and the slowness of the asylum
process.
The 35 were all jointly charged with the following identical offences which were alleged to have
been committed during the protest:
1. Arson with intent to endanger life – contrary to Article 264 of the Greek Penal Code
2. Dangerous bodily harm – contrary to Article 309
3. Damage of foreign property – contrary to Article 382
4. Using or threatening violence to force an authority or public official to execute an act within
his capacities or to refrain from a legitimate act – contrary to Article 167
Five of the defendants were released on bail with restrictive measures. Thirty remained in custody
awaiting trial pursuant to Article 282 of the Greek Code of Criminal Procedure on the grounds that
they would fail to attend court for trial because of the seriousness of the charges and the lack of an
appropriate address.
The trial finally began on 20 April 2018 in front of a ‘Mixed Jury Court’ on the island of Chios.
There were 4 days of proceedings, ending on 27 April 2018. All the defendants were acquitted of
charges, 1, 3 and 4. 3 were acquitted of the remaining charge, whilst 32 were found guilty of charge
2.
1 Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 relative to the common
procedures for the granting and withdrawal of international protection, under the “procedures” Directive.
2 Under the deal, anyone arriving irregularly on Greek islands would be returned to Turkey. In exchange for accepting
these people, Turkey received money and other benefits. The deal effectively prevented arrivals on the islands from
continuing to the mainland.
3 According to figures in the second report on the progress made in the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement
published by the European commission on 15 June 2016 (COM (216) 349), there were 8.450 on June 2016.
6

1.2. Trial observation aims
Comprising five members from six human rights organizations, the Trial Observation Committee
(‘TOC’) included people who are lawyers and jurists from different parts of the world.
The creation of the Committee followed the call from Legal Centre Lesbos ('LCL') for independent
legal observers to attend the trial.4 Once the Committee was formed, LCL provided information
regarding the arrests of the 35 migrants in Moria.
The purpose of the TOC was to ensure international oversight and to observe the proceedings in
view of the right to a fair trial, in particular:
 the right of all persons to equality before the law and the courts;
 the right of all persons to a public hearing with all due guarantees before a legally
constituted, competent, independent and impartial tribunal.
A further aim was to produce a report containing the findings of the Committee, which would
assess whether there had been breaches of the above rights.
In order to fulfil these aims, the Committee made efforts to interview various actors within the trial
process.
1.3. Pre-trial observations
Prior to attending Chios, the committee was provided with information from LCL outlining the
history of proceedings leading up to the trial.4
Whilst not present to witness the pre trial proceedings in this case, the following preliminary
observations could be made from the information we received:
 For the preliminary hearings at the Mytilini Court in Lesbos, one lawyer had represented 34
of the 35 suspects.
 Some of the defendants were released from pre-trial detention because there was no
interpreter available who could speak their language at the Mytilini Court.
 Thirty suspects were kept in detention for 10 months because they were seen as a flight risk.
 In Greece, arson with an intent to endanger life is a crime for which more than six months’
provisional detention is permitted. The hearing in this case took place after nine months.
 In the “Moria 35” case, pre-trial detention was reviewed after six months. Despite petitions
advocating that the defendants should be released, the court renewed pre-trial detention.
4 See ‘LCL – Pre trial Legal Observers Summary of Moria 35 Case’ in the Appendix
7

2. THE ‘MORIA 35’ TRIAL
2.1. Introduction
Three of the observers arrived the night before the trial began. A further two lawyers arrived the
night before the second day of the trial. Throughout proceedings the TOC were able to observe and
make notes regarding the proceedings with the assistance of two Greek-English interpreters.
This section contains an outline of the different aspects of the trial the Committee found particular
relevant, followed by a chronological exposition of events.
2.1.1 The Chios Court
The trial took place on Chios, not Lesbos island where the alleged offences were said to have taken
place. The defence lawyers petitioned for defence witnesses with travel restrictions to be allowed to
leave Lesbos to attend the trial and give evidence. This was granted.
The courtroom was crammed with defendants, police, lawyers, judiciary, interpreters, international
observers, media and members of the public. The 35 defendants had to sit in seven rows of five
people in the public gallery.
During the trial, there were no break times for defendants. Throughout the day the defendants were
not provided with any food by the authorities. When they had to go to the toilet, as often happened,
the trial simply continued without them.
The defendants were surrounded by approximately 15 policemen and prison guards. Outside the
building and on the street there were a further 20 policemen and guards.
Throughout the proceedings, people entered and left the courtroom. Indeed, the courtroom remained
open and accessible throughout the trial.
The defendants had nowhere to consult with their lawyers in private. Any discussion, and there was
very little, took place where they were sitting in full view and earshot of everyone in the court.
2.1.2. The President of the Court
The President of the Court did not introduce herself or the other judges, the prosecutor or the court
clerk to the defendants. As nobody was dressed in a robe, it was confusing for the defendants.
On the first day of the trial, the observation committee gave the President a letter in Greek to
introduce themselves. She refused the letter, simply responding that it was a public hearing.
The President of the Court generally maintained a good rapport with the defence lawyers, the
prosecutor and interpreters. Her approach towards the defendants was markedly different.5
Most
notably, the President systematically interrupted defence witnesses and hurried their evidence. This
approach was made more apparent by her treatment of prosecution witnesses, who were given
significantly more time to present their evidence.
5 On 23 April 2018, she ordered a man to leave the court but the committee did not understand the reason
8

It was abundantly clear from the outset that the President intended to severely restrict the
evidence of each defendant.
In almost all cases the President only asked the defendant three questions:
What time were you in the camp?
Did you see stones being thrown or fires being lit?
Where were you when you were arrested?
She then told the defendants to step down. Some defendants protested that they had more to say, but
were only able to speak for a few seconds more. For example, when defendants attempted to
explain where they were on the morning of the alleged offences (which were supposed to have
happened between 12.00 and 16.00) she quickly prevented him from finishing his response.
Throughout the proceedings the President appeared to make very few notes. The committee did not
observe her making any notes with respect to defendants’ evidence.
Lawyers for the defendants sought to introduce video evidence concerning the events of the
disturbance. The President indicated that the video was of no interest to her and appeared not to
watch it.
The President in open court, appeared to take most decisions and ask questions without consulting
her colleagues or the jurors. She never asked for their opinion or if they had any questions for the
witnesses or defendants.
This was the case even when the defence lawyers asked to change the charges at the beginning of
the trial. This was a crucial issue upon which she should have consulted with the other Judges.
Above all, the committee noticed that the President:
- offered no explanation of the different stages of the procedure throughout the trial;
- failed to check that the defendants had understood translations of the decisions;
- gave no explanation about several withdrawals of the bench to chambers.
2.1.3. The Prosecutor
The three judges and four jurors sat on a bench in an arc. The prosecutor sat at the end and was not
separated from the others. This made it difficult to distinguish between the prosecutor and
others on the bench and made it difficult for the defendants to understand who she was.6
Some defendants couldn’t see the prosecutor as she was sitting partly behind a pillar.
On many occasions the prosecutor raised her voice at defendants or defence witnesses in a manner
the Committee found to be intimidating and disrespectful. The committee could see no reason for
such behaviour.
6 See to that effect the declarations of five defendants (Appendix – interview).
9

2.1.4. The interpreters
During the trial a total of five interpreters7
were present:
 one for seven English speaking defendants,
 one for 20 French speaking defendants,
 one for one Spanish speaking defendant,
 one for one Farsi speaking defendant,
 one for six Bambara and Wolof speaking defendants.
It was immediately clear that there were not enough interpreters for the French and English
speaking defendants, and there would be neither simultaneous translation nor individual
translations.
The committee had the following serious concerns about the interpreters:
 none were professional interpreters;8
 none had received any training in interpretation;
 none were told what was expected of them;
 the English interpreter, who was a local teacher, asked to be excused on Thursday, halfway
through the trial, because she said that she was not sufficiently competent. She was replaced
by a police officer in uniform who sat with the other interpreters, approximately 2m from
the defendants as they gave evidence. The following day, the English speaking police officer
was replaced by another police officer, this one dressed in civilian clothing.
In summary the translation and interpretation facilities at the court were chaotic and hopelessly
inadequate.
2.1.5. The Lawyers
The 35 defendants shared six lawyers, which meant they lacked the necessary individual
attention during proceedings and were at risk of conflicting legal interests. The Greek legal aid
system does not provide for a lawyer of one’s own choice for every defendant. Because of the costs,
defendants were forced to share six lawyers, who were paid by third parties.
During the trial, the defence lawyers were:
- unable to cope with problems relating to translation;
- unable to sit next to their clients;
- unable to take their clients instructions during proceedings;
- unable to spend sufficient time pleading their clients' cases. Each lawyer was limited to 11
minutes for the multiple client's they were representing.
7 The international delegation had two English speaking translators during the entire trial who came especially from
Athens.
8 They were supposed to be paid 18 euros per day but they declared that they were doing it just to help, not for the
money.
10

2.1.6. The Defendants
After their arrest on 18 July, 30 of the defendants remained in custody awaiting trial:
 10 were detained in Chios;
 six were detained in a youth facility in Avlona;
 one was detained in Malandrino prison in central Greece;
 13 were detained in Korydallos prison in Athens.
According to information given to the committee by the lawyers and the defendants themselves, at
least eight of the defendants had severe psychological problems for which they were receiving
medication or other form of treatment, or were at least considered vulnerable by the Greek asylum
service.
Lawyers gave medical statements to the court detailing these problems. However, in the
indictment, there was no reference to these or any other personal circumstances of the
defendants.
The five other defendants who had travel restrictions imposed remained in Moria camp. They went
to Chios with the financial support of volunteers.
The defendants are from:
 Ivory Coast
 Senegal
 Mali
 Ghana
 Gambia
 Cameroon
 Dominican Republic
 Sierra Leone
 Haiti
 Nigeria
 Guinea
 Iran
One of the principle concerns the committee had was the clear racial overtones present throughout
the trial process. Several hundred refugees of all races and from many countries participated in the
protest and confrontation.9
Of great concern to the committee is that 34 of the 35 protesters
arrested and tried were black.
Then there was evidence of racist remarks by the police during arrest, such as "black dog" and
"This is not Africa". Moreover, the search for perpetrators only in the part of the camp occupied by
people from African countries was obviously racially biased.
9 For instance, one of the defence witnesses declared on Thursday 26 April 2018 « At noon, Arabic families with
children joined us during the peaceful demonstration ».
11

2.2. Day by day observations of the trial
2.2.1. Friday, 20 April 2018 – First day of the trial
Three members of the trial observation committee attended the hearing: Mr Gaasbeek
(Netherlands), Mrs Gaasbeek-Wielinga (Netherlands) and Mrs Ducci (France).
The Committee had notified the Chios Mixed Jury Court and the Chios Bar in advance that the trial
would be observed. Neither body had acknowledged receipt of our communications. Consequently
at the start of the trial the representative of the committee, Mrs Gaasbeek-Wielinga, announced the
Committee’s presence.
The President checked that all 35 defendants were present by checking their names. Two of the
defendants had not arrived due to a ferry strike.
The court started to choose and install jurors. The defence lawyers had the opportunity to make
representations regarding the selection of jurors.
After that, the prosecutor read out the charges to the defendants.
All the defendants faced the same charges. All had received exactly the same indictment with the
same four accusations. The indictment was long and complex; the reading of the accusations took
about 10 minutes.
During the trial it became clear that the prosecution had not prepared a case against each
defendant: they were treated as a "guilty group". The same applied to the evidence provided by
prosecution witnesses – no individualized proof was given of the involvement of each defendant in
the acts they were charged with.
The indictment was provided in Greek. When the charges were read out, there was no simultaneous
translation. The President only allowed the interpreters to provide the defendants with a very short
summary of the charges.
The defendants sitting in the last row could not even hear the interpreted summary of the charges,
especially that provided by the English speaking interpreter who spoke very softly.
The defence lawyers stated that they had serious objections about the arbitrary nature of the arrests.
No investigation was made to ensure that there was reasonable suspicion that the accused were
involved. The fact that all 35 defendants protested their innocence and many denied they were even
present during the demonstration seemed of little importance to the court.
The lawyers spelled out some of the problems with the arrests:
- the accused were arrested a long time after the disturbances;
- those involved in the disturbances covered their faces and therefore made it very difficult for
them to be recognized;
- the official guidelines for identification and recognition were not followed.
The lawyers stated that several of the defendants could prove they were not in the vicinity of the
demonstration and the disturbances because at the time they had an appointment with or questions
for one of the EASO (European Asylum Support Office) officials in their office.
12

Following the above representations by the defence lawyers, the case was postponed until 22 April
in order to include the two absent defendants who could not be present because of the ferry strike.
2.2.2. Monday, 23 April - Second day of the trial
Two more observers arrived, Mr Nichol (UK) and Mrs Nicolet (France).
The President did not check herself if all the defendants were present, and instead asked the lawyers
to so.
Considering the difficulties which the defendants had had in hearing the proceedings on the first
day, the court had installed speakers connected to microphones which amplified the voice of the
judge, prosecutor and witnesses giving evidence. However, in the morning the audio equipment did
not function adequately so it was difficult for anyone to hear properly.
Nevertheless, the court continued by hearing the evidence of witnesses for the prosecution.
Six policemen and one fireman were sworn in and heard. All bar one of them were questioned by
the President, the prosecutor and the defendants' lawyers.
One police officer told the court that he recognized 16 defendants as having participated in the
demonstration/disturbances. The committee finds this highly unlikely, especially given the
prosecution evidence that the perpetrators were subjected to repeated tear gas attacks and had their
faces covered. There do not appear to have been any identification procedures with respect to any
defendant.
Of concern too was the attitude of some of the police. Referring to the protesters, one police officer
said, "They all looked much the same".
Prosecution witnesses received no instructions about their role as a witness. The committee
considers this a serious problem: the witnesses gave hearsay evidence based on what they had
heard from their colleagues or learned from other sources, which should have been ruled
inadmissible by the President.
The committee was seriously concerned that no direct evidence presented to the court by
prosecution witnesses was translated for the defendants throughout the entire proceedings.
At best, with some prosecution witnesses, the President ordered the interpreters to provide a short
summary of the evidence presented, lasting just a few seconds.
The summary given by the English interpreter was completely wrong. The interpreter could not
even give an exact translation when it was dictated by the President.
Later, the President asked if there was a policeman present who could translate in English, and the
first interpreter was replaced by a policeman.
The committee spoke about the huge translation problems with the interpreters and with different
lawyers. Indeed, the only one with trial experience was the Spanish speaking translator. The
problems included:
- The English and French interpreters were teachers and this was their first trial.
13

- The Farsi translator was an asylum seeker without any experience in translating.
- The Wolof interpreter was an asylum seeker from the camp on Chios and had no experience. He
had been asked by a police officer to do the interpretation; on the last day he was sick but the police
asked him to assist in any case.
- During the trial it became clear that one of the defendants who was supposed to understand Wolof
did not understand it at all but instead spoke Bambara (also named Bamanankan). Although the
interpreter reported this several times, he was initially ignored. Another defendant ended up
translating for this defendant.
- Later in the trial, the same defendant was translating the statement of the Bambara speaking
defendant into Wolof; then the "official" Wolof interpreter translated his words into English; and
then a policeman, who volunteered from the audience, translated the statement – or what was left of
it – into Greek.
The committee could not understand why neither the President, the prosecutor nor the defence
lawyers insisted on having the trial simultaneously translated. During the course of the proceedings,
the prosecutor said that there were not enough funds to provide sufficient translation.
It should be noted that the translators all did their best to translate as well as they could, but it was
clear that their level of knowledge and experience was below any professional standard.
Finally, around noon, the President postponed the trial until Thursday without explanation.
2.2.3. Thursday, 26 April – Third day of the trial
The lawyers presented written evidence of the personal circumstances of their clients, as well as
alibi evidence. The President instructed that the documents should only be translated in summary.
This was regrettable because the defendants could not be sure if their lawyers had produced all their
evidence and arguments to the court.
The prosecutor showed, on a small screen that not all defendants could see, photographs of the
camp to prove the damage said to have been caused by the defendants. The screen was positioned at
an angle that allowed the judges, jury, lawyers and interpreters to see the photographs, but only
some of the defendants (approximately 10 to 12).
The police commander explained the pictures although he was not put under oath or asked to
reconfirm his earlier oath.
The lawyers protested against these photographs and the presentation because it was not clear who
took the pictures, at what place and when. The Judge President dismissed the complaint without
explanation.
After long discussion, the defence was allowed to show only a part of the videos they wanted to
present as evidence. During the showing, the President expressed anger at the time it was taking and
refused to look at the video any longer.
The films showed that the camp was completely quiet an hour before the arrests, contrary to what
the prosecution witnesses had stated. Despite this, the President refused to agree to the showing of
more videos, even when the lawyers argued that these showed images of the unlawful arrests of the
defendants. Later on, when questioned, approximately 10 of the defendants stated – as their lawyers
14

had already done - that they were beaten, some of them many times, and otherwise mistreated
during arrest.
The defence then called their witnesses (eight in total).
The first witness suffered serious problems with the English translation. Due to the bad translation
(the committee had good interpreters and several members understood French and English
themselves), the witness were totally misunderstood. The prosecutor became extremely angry and
treated the witness badly.
The President and the lawyers, all English speakers, let this pass and the witness was not protected
from unfounded attacks. Of particular concern is that his statement was hindered, interrupted,
misunderstood and not corrected afterwards by the interpreter.
Later, one of the other interpreters was replaced at the request of the prosecutor. This was the
responsibility of the President, who should have acted sooner. The committee also notes that the
defence lawyers did not ask for a competent translator. The President agreed with the replacement,
but failed to investigate whether or not the defence had been hindered or the defendants harmed by
the earlier lack of proper interpretation.
The prosecutor frequently made cynical remarks about the defendants when they gave their
statements. At one point, she made jokes with the juror sitting next to her, exposing her lack of
professionalism. The President should have forbidden such behaviour.
As mentioned previously, the new interpreter was a local policeman. The committee believes the
choice of a policeman was highly questionable, particularly as it meant the defendants had to speak
to and trust an interpreter who “belongs to the other side”.
The committee noted that the President allowed the prosecutor to repeat the same questions many
times during the hearing, but forbade the defence lawyers from doing the same.
Such intimidating behaviour by the prosecutor breached the rules of a fair hearing as the defendants
could not defend themselves against it and it could have influenced unfairly their answers and the
outcome of the trial.
The long trial day ended with the evidence of the first five defendants.
The committee noticed that:
 the President asked all the defendants if they had seen people throwing stones;
 she asked them if they wished to say anything more to the court; those who did were given
only a minute or so;
 only the prosecutor asked a few questions; the defence lawyers asked nothing except in the
case of the last defendant and this concerned a translation issue;
 again, there was no translation of evidence for the benefit and understanding of other
defendants.
15

2.2.4. Friday, 26 April – Last day of the trial
The evidence of defendants continued. The defendants were only given a very short time each.
They had to answer the same four or five questions from the Judge President and the prosecutor,
and were hurried when answering. The defendants were not given the opportunity to speak in
their own defence in an appropriate way with sufficient time.
The committee recorded the time and length of evidence given by each defendant:
Defendant n°1 – 14.24 → 6 minutes
Defendant n°26 – 12.28 → 8 minutes (He
spoke in Greek)
TOTAL SPEAKING TIME → 255 minutes
AVERAGE SPEAKING TIME → 7 minutes
When taking into account that half of the time they were giving evidence was taken up in
interpretation, it is difficult to see how any of the defendants could meaningfully present their case
to the court. This was particularly concerning considering all 35 defendants faced a maximum
prison sentence of 10 years.
2.2.5. Other observations
In addition to the points noted above, the failings included:
The lack of a good map/model/picture of the camp was a serious impediment to justice. At times it
made the testimonies unclear. Some points became vague or confusing when the defendants tried to
explain what had happened when and where.
According to their statements, many of the defendants were not even present at the demonstration,
let alone at the disturbances afterwards, and said they could prove so. However, they were not
questioned adequately on this point.
Other defendants said they fled before the disturbances and only returned to the camp and their
container after the situation had calmed down. These defendants were not questioned adequately on
this.
16

According to the evidence the police used violence during the arrests. Many defendants said they
fled because of the police violence, not because they were guilty. These statements were barely
heard by the court. The defendants were not questioned on their content and it was clear that their
statements were not taken seriously.
Defendants submitted eight official complaints about ill-treatment. It is not clear what has happened
to the complaints.
According to the defendants, after their arrest the investigating judge,at one of the preliminary
hearings promised that during trial they would be given the opportunity to speak out and explain
their alibis and their personal circumstances, including illnesses, schooling, family situations, etc.
No such opportunity was given to them.
The President explicitly prevented most of the defendants from speaking about their asylum
situation. Some of them said that they had already been granted asylum and therefore would never
have risked their status by taking part in violence.
During the hearings of some defendants, several times another defendant asked the court if he could
provide additional information. Mostly, this was refused.
Only the more assertive defendants were able to make some remarks they considered important for
their defence.
At no point were the defendants asked about their individual circumstances, though such
information is crucial as mitigation for the purposes of sentencing.
2.2.6. End of the trial
During her summing up, the prosecutor started by commenting on the last defendant’s statement,
who had apologized about the events and referred to a link with the poor living conditions in the
Moria camp.
She acknowledged the shortage of interpreters and said it was due to lack of funds. She concluded
that they had tried to do their best.
Then, the defendants' lawyers were allowed to speak on behalf of their clients. They took less than 2
minutes for each defendant.
The committee recorded the speaking time of each lawyer:
Lawyer n°1 – 14.45 → 24 minutes
Lawyer n°3 – 15.17→ 8 minutes
TOTAL SPEAKING TIME → 65 minutes
AVERAGE SPEAKING TIME → 11 minutes
AVERAGE SPEAKING TIME PER DEFENDANT → 108 seconds
17

The main arguments of the defence lawyers were:
 the lack of evidence to convict;
 the peaceful character of the demonstration;
 evidence that most of the 35 accused were outside the camp during the events.
The committee noticed that the prosecutor did not react to the defence arguments about the lack of
evidence against the defendants.
The prosecutor also denied the peaceful character of the demonstration and spoke about the police’s
right to self-defence.
The prosecutor submitted that there was no evidence against three of the 35 on any charge, and that
they should therefore be acquitted. She said that the other 32 should be found guilty of bodily harm
against policemen.
The prosecutor was aware that all the defendants were black, whereas the demonstration involved
people of all races. She tried to undermine any suggestion of racism by saying that Greek people
were also arrested in Lesbos on 22 April. The committee was not convinced.
No translation of her summing up was ordered by the Judge President.
The committee noted that, other than during the indictment, the court clerk took no notes during the
oral pleadings of the lawyers and was looking uninterested and sleepy.
After this, the court withdrew for 30 minutes.
The verdict: All 35 defendants were found not guilty of :
1. Arson with intent to endanger life – contrary to Article 264 of the Greek Penal Code
3. Damage of foreign property – contrary to Article 382
4. Using or threatening violence to force an authority or public official to execute an act
within his capacities or to refrain from a legitimate act – contrary to Article 167
32 of the 35 defendants were found guilty of:
2. Dangerous bodily harm – contrary to Article 309
In the verdict, no mention was made of individual defendants.
After some discussion between the Judge President, the prosecutor and the defence lawyers about
the sentence, the lawyers put forward the defendants mitigating circumstances. These included the
young age of some defendants, and the fact that one defendant had been hospitalised for a week due
to police ill-treatment.
The court then withdrew to chambers.
The sentence: all the convicted defendants were given a 26-month suspended prison term.
18

3. BREACHES OF HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS IN THE ‘MORIA 35’ TRIAL
As a party to the European Convention on Human Rights10
, Greece is legally obligated to ‘secure to
everyone within (its) jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in section 1 of this Convention.’11
For our purposes, the most relevant sections are Articles 5, 6 and 14, which we reproduce below:
ARTICLE 5 - Right to liberty and security
1. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be deprived of his liberty
save in the following cases and in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law:
(a) the lawful detention of a person after conviction by a competent court;
(b) the lawful arrest or detention of a person for non- compliance with the lawful order of a court or
in order to secure the fulfilment of any obligation prescribed by law;
(c) the lawful arrest or detention of a person effected for the purpose of bringing him before the
competent legal authority on reasonable suspicion of having committed an offence or when it is
reasonably considered necessary to prevent his committing an offence or fleeing after having done
so;
(d) the detention of a minor by lawful order for the purpose of educational supervision or his lawful
detention for the purpose of bringing him before the competent legal authority;
(e) the lawful detention of persons for the prevention of the spreading of infectious diseases, of
persons of unsound mind, alcoholics or drug addicts or vagrants;
f. the lawful arrest or detention of a person to prevent his effecting an unauthorised entry into the
country or of a person against whom action is being taken with a view to deportation or extradition.
2. Everyone who is arrested shall be informed promptly, in a language which he or she understands,
of the reasons for his arrest and of any charge against him.
3. Everyone arrested or detained in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1.c of this article
shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorised by law to exercise judicial
power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release pending trial. Release may
be conditioned by guarantees to appear for trial.
4. Everyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to take
proceedings by which the lawfulness of his detention shall be decided speedily by a court and his
release ordered if the detention is not lawful.
5. Everyone who has been the victim of arrest or detention in contravention of the provisions of this
article shall have an enforceable right to compensation.
ARTICLE 6 - Right to a fair trial
1. In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, ev-
eryone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and im-
partial tribunal established by law. Judgment shall be pronounced publicly but the press and public
may be excluded from all or part of the trial in the interest of morals, public order or national secu-
rity in a democratic society, where the interests of juveniles or the protection of the private life of
10 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) (Adopted 4 November 1950,
EIF 3 September 1953) 2889 UNTS 213, Ratified by Greece 28 November 1974
https://treaties.un.org/pages/showDetails.aspx?objid=080000028014a40b
11 ibid, Article 1
19

the parties so require, or the extent strictly necessary in the opinion of the court in special circum-
stances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice.
2.Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty
according to law.
3. Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the following minimum rights:
(a) to be informed promptly, in a language which he understands and in detail, of the nature and
cause of the accusation against him;
(b) to have adequate time and the facilities for the preparation of his defence;
(c) to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing or, if he has not
sufficient means to pay for legal assistance, to be given it free when the interests of justice so
require;
(d) to examine or have examined witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and
examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him;
(e) to have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language used
in court.
ARTICLE 14 - Prohibition of discrimination
The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without
discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other
status.
3.1 Breaches at the pre trial stage
3.1.1 The arrests in Moria
Most of the suspects were arrested on 18 July 2017 long after the disturbance had subsided for at
least one hour. The police were ordered to make arrests. The police went looking for the suspects.
The evidence disclosed that the protest involved all races and nationalities. However, they only
searched areas of the camp where black Africans lived. This strongly suggests that black
Africans were unjustifiably targeted for arrest.
The committee therefore finds there was breach of Article 14, in that there was no justification for
almost exclusively targeting individuals residing in the ‘black african’ section of the camp. The
results of this policy became painfully clear at the trial, where at the centre of the court room sat the
35 defendants, 34 of whom were black.
Considering the arbitrary nature of the arrests, the committee also finds that there was a breach of
Article 5(1)(c), in that it cannot be said their deprivation of liberty was justified on the basis of a
reasonable suspicion the specific individuals involved had committed an offence.
20

3.1.2 Proceedings prior to Trial
3.1.2.1 Detention
In accordance with the right to liberty and the presumption of innocence, there is a presumption that
people charged with a criminal offence will not be detained while awaiting trial12
. In our
assessment, the decision by the Mytilini Court to detain 30 of the 35 defendants pending trial
constitutes a breach of Article 5(1)(c) of the Convention, as detention could not be ‘reasonably
considered necessary to prevent’ the defendants ‘committing an offence or fleeing after having done
so’. None of the defendants had previous convictions for offences committed in Greece and
similarly none had a history of not attending proceedings previously. Furthermore, what is more
astonishing is the idea that the Defendants could flee at all, considering Lesvos has become an
incredibly controlled island by the Greek Authorities following the implementation of the EU –
Turkey statement. The decision to detain 30 of the Defendants reflects the disproportionate overuse
in Greece of pre-trial detention against detainees of foreign nationality which again points to a
further violation of Article 1413
.
3.1.2.2 Delay
The Committee also finds that 9 month delay between the time of the arrests and the trial itself
constitutes a breach of Article 6(1) of the Convention. The need for a final hearing within a
reasonable time is applicable to anyone facing criminal proceedings, but is particularly so for those
detained awaiting trial14
. This right is based on the presumption of innocence and on the right to
liberty, which requires that detention should be an exception and should last no longer than is
necessary in a particular case. It means that anyone held in pre-trial detention is entitled to have
their case given priority and to have the proceedings conducted with particular expedition.15
Various
factors are to be taken into account when examining the reasonableness of the length of pre-trial
detention, including the complexity of the case, the special diligence displayed by the authorities in
the conduct of proceedings considering the complexity and special characteristics of the
investigation, whether delays are due in large part to the conduct of the accused or the prosecution
and the measures taken by the authorities to expedite proceedings16
. Factors relevant to determining
the complexity of a case include the nature of the offence(s), the number of alleged offenders, and
the legal issues involved.17
It is correct to state that the proceedings were rendered more complicated
by virtue of the number of defendants, however it cannot be suggested that the prosecution acted
with any ‘special diligence’ in the conduct of proceedings. If anything, the reverse is true. The
committee noted that the evidence presented by the prosecution at trial was gathered in the first few
days following the incident. There was nothing to indicate that further enquiries had been made, let
alone any complex investigative procedures conducted, which would justify the lengthy delay. The
Committee found this particularly concerning considering the Defendants, many of whom suffered
from severe mental and physical health problems, were sent to prisons across Greece which were ill
equipped to deal with non-Greek speakers and inaccessible to friends and family.
12 ECHR, 18 March 2018, n°39726/10, Pouliou / Greece
13 Fair Trials International, ‘A Measure of Last Resort? The Practice of pre-trial detention decision making in the EU’
14 Tomasi v France ECHR 1992
15 Wemhoff v Germany (2122/64) ECHR(1968) The Law §§4-5
16 Kalashnikov v Russia (47095/99), (2002) §§114-120 and O’Dowd v United Kingdom (7390/07), (2010) §§68-70.
17 Van der Tang v Spain (19382/92), European Court (1995) §§72-76.
21

3.1.2.3 Translation
In what became a permanent feature of the proceedings relating to this case, none of the Defendants
were ‘informed promptly, in a language which he understands and in detail of the nature and cause
of the accusation against him’18
. Considering that all the Defendants were foreign nationals with
little to no understanding of Greek, the authorities also failed to fulfill the obligation to provide the
accused with translation of the relevant documents containing the case against him19
. This is even
more so the case for those Defendants who suffer from mental health difficulties20
.
3.2 Breaches during the trial
3.2.1 Assistance of an interpreter
Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the right to the assistance of an interpreter, free of
charge, if he or she does not understand or speak the language used in court21
. The failure to provide
an interpreter for an accused who does not speak or understand the language used in court violates
the accused’s right to a fair trial22
.
It has been noted that 5 interpreters were provided for the 35 defendants. However, none of these
interpreters provided simultaneously translation. They only provided summaries of sections of the
proceedings when prompted to do so by the judge, which themselves were very limited. The vast
majority of the trial was therefore not understandable to the Defendants, something which they
repeatedly made clear to the court, their lawyers and the members of the Committee23
. For the vast
majority of the trial, the Committee finds therefore, that the court did not provide the assistance of
an interpreter in contravention of the Convention.
Of the little interpretation the Defendants did receive, a further blatant breach was identified by the
Committee in relation to the quality of interpretation. The ECtHR has ruled that a central part of the
obligation contained in Article 6(3)(e) is that the interpreter be ‘competent’24
. Yet, none of the
interpreters were professional interpreters. None had received any training in interpretation. None
had experience of interpreting in court proceedings and none had been informed what was expected
of them by the court.
The English interpreter, who was a local teacher, asked to be excused, on Thursday, halfway
through the trial because she said that she was not sufficiently competent. She was replaced by a
police officer in uniform who sat with the other interpreters, approximately two meters, away from
the defendants as they gave evidence. The following day, Friday, the English-speaking police
officer was replaced by another police officer in civilian clothing.
Moreover, the Bambara speaking defendant in particular was not provided with any interpretation
by the court, even after he had made it clear that he could not understand Wolof, again constituting
a flagrant breach Article 6(3)(e).
18 Article 6(3)(a) of the ECHR.
19 Brozicek v. Italy, 19 December 1989, n° 10964/84 § 41; Tabaï v. France, 17 February 2004, n° 73805/01
20 Vaudelle v. France, 30 January 2001, n° 35683/97, § 65
21 Article 6(3)(e) ECHR.
22 Bozbey v Turkmenistan, HRC, UN Doc. CCPR/C/100/D/1530/2006 (2010) §7.2.
23 The international legal team of observers interviewed the five defendants who were on bail. All
confirmed that they were unable to understand any of the proceedings, and said they were anxious and
distressed because of this. They confirmed that the 30 defendants in custody suffered the same anxiety and
distress.
24 Cuscani v United Kingdom (32771/96), European Court (2002) §39.
22

The systematic disregard of this right undermines a central overarching principle of the right to a
fair trial, that of the participation of the accused in their own defence before during proceedings.
According to the ECtHR, the principle that the defendant should be able to participate in
proceedings is not sufficiently met when the accused’s lawyers know the language used by the
court.25
The violation of this principle has a knock on effect on other rights such as the effective
exercise of the rights to assistance of counsel, adequate facilities to prepare and present a defence,
equality before the law and courts and the principle of equality of arms.
3.2.2 Ability to present case
As part of the right to a fair hearing contained within Article 6(1) of the convention is the respect
for the concept of equality of arms. It requires that each party be given a reasonable opportunity to
present his case under conditions that do not place him at a substantial disadvantage vis-à-vis his
opponent26
. It ensures that the defence has a genuine opportunity to prepare and present its case 27
.
The ability to present one’s case also forms part of the right to defend oneself when charged with a
criminal defence28
, whilst also implicitly being recognized in the right of a person to be present at
trial29
.
The right of the Defendants to present their case was undermined during the course of the trial. Of
particular significance was the incredibly limited time the Defendants were given to give their
testimonies at court (as explained in section 2.2.4). None of the Committee had ever witnessed a
trial which in many instances gave, when taking into account interpretation, only 3 minutes to a
Defendant to present their testimony. This was particularly shocking considering the seriousness of
the offences involved. Another significant example of breach of this right was the President’s
refusal to allow the vast majority of potentially exculpatory video evidence to be played in court.
These breaches are in stark contrast to the treatment of the prosecution in the presentation of its
case, the Judge providing ample to time to prosecution witnesses (on average 45 minutes per
witness) to present their evidence.
This treatment of the Defendants was symptomatic of a wider problem, the inability of the
Defendants to participate effectively in their own trial through lack of interpretation, their
geographical positioning within the court which meant they were physically incapable of instructing
their representatives during proceedings and the small number of defence lawyers relative to the
Defendants.
3.2.3 Presumption of innocence Art 6(2) and the impartiality of the tribunal 6(1)
The requirement that the accused be presumed innocent means that the burden of proving the
charge rests on the prosecution. A court may not convict unless guilt has been proved beyond
reasonable doubt. If there is reasonable doubt, the accused must be acquitted.
25 Kamasinski v. Austria, 19 December 1989, n° 9783/82, § 74; Cuscani v. the United Kingdom, 24 September 2002 ,
n° 32771/96, § 38.
26 Foucher v. France, § 34; Bulut v. Austria; Bobek v. Poland, § 56; Klimentyev v. Russia, § 95.
27 HRC General Comment 32, §13; Jasper v the United Kingdom (27052/95), European Court Grand Chamber
(2000), §51.
28 Article 6(c) ECHR.
29 Article 14(3)(d) of the ICCPR.
23

The conduct of the trial must be based on the presumption of innocence. Judges must conduct trials
without previously having formed an opinion on the guilt or innocence of the accused and must
ensure that the conduct of the trial conforms to this. In accordance with the presumption of
innocence, the rules of evidence and conduct of a trial must ensure that the prosecution bears the
burden of proof throughout a trial.
The Committee has serious concerns as to whether this presumption was applied in the present case.
The prosecution case suffered from serious weaknesses. One of the principle problems with the
prosecution case was the inability of any of the prosecution witnesses to identify any of the
defendants. Not one of the prosecution witnesses was able to identify any of the individuals as
being present during the incident nor specify what any of the Defendants had individually done.
The prosecution case rested on the premise that everyone within the African section of the camp
had been involved in the riot and had committed identical offences. They were said to have been
rioting the whole afternoon and then had all run into a separate section of the camp.
This was despite the following facts which were consistently put forward by the defence during
trial:
1. The incident took place over the course of hours and people could have walked into and out
of that section of the camp either through the main entrance or through holes in the fences
that surrounded it.
2. 2. There was an hour long pause between the time the riot ended and the police violently
arrested the individuals within the camp. This lapse in time put in serious doubt the idea
that all those who were found within the ‘african section’ of the camp were those who were
said to have committed the alleged offences.
The conviction of 32 of the 35 Defendants on the basis that they were one large indistinguishable
black criminal mass committing identical offences not only leads the Committee to conclude that
the presumption of innocence was not employed in this case, but also that proceedings were not
presided over by an impartial tribunal in contravention of Article 6(1) of the Convention. This
conclusion is reinforced by the tribunals failure to address the breaches of the Defendants rights
mentioned in the previous paragraphs. It is also reflected in the manner in which the President
conducted the examination of defendants and defence witnesses, in contrast to her treatment of
prosecution witnesses.
24

4. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE
Several aspects of the trial breached the international fair trial standards required by the ECHR.
4.1. The right to have an interpreter
The defendants did not get proper translation during the trial.
The President only asked from time to time for the interpreters to translate for the defendants.
For example, on the second day, the Judge President asked the interpreters to translate fewer than
10 sentences.30
The lack of competence of the interpreters was obvious (see 2.4.).
The defendants did not have proper translation in a language they understood during the whole trial.
They could not understand what people in court were saying, including their own lawyers.
The committee recommends the use of professional interpreters in order to respect the right of
defendants to understand what is happening during their own trial. It also recommends that
everything is translated for defendants, not just occasional short summaries.
4.2. The right to an impartial tribunal (Article 6§1) and the principle of non-
discrimination (Article 14)
The fair trial principle implies the impartiality of the judge i.e. the absence of prejudice
or bias by the court.
The 35 defendants were not treated in the way other defendants are treated before the Greek courts,
or in the way the ECHR specifies that defendants should be treated in Europe.
The defendants were treated as guilty from the moment of their arrest and during the trial, not only
by the prosecutor but also by the court.
4.3. Respect of the prohibition of inhuman treatment (Article 3)
The physical layout and facilities of the court were totally inadequate. The defendants complained
that they were not given any food during the hearing or an opportunity to exercise. They were only
given water.
The Committee believes that the treatment of the defendants did not respect the prohibition of
inhumane treatment.31
30 One of these sentences was the summary of the statement of a witness, a police officer: “The witness declared that
he couldn’t recognize any of you precisely but he knows that you were all present at the moment of the
demonstration”.
31 See, for example, Colesnicov v. Roumanie, 21 December 2010, n° 36479/03; ECHR, Florea v. Romania, 14
September 2010, n° 37186/03; ECHR, Shuvaev v. Greece, 29 October 2009, n° 8249/07.
25

5. UPDATES
All of the “Moria 35” went back to Moria camp. Their legal status varies :
 9 are still awaiting interview or they are still awaiting their decision ;
 12 have appealed against the rejection of their applications ;
 7 have been rejected in the second instance; they have petitioned to be allowed to file a
subsequent application for international protection, which was accepted by the police (and
so a scheduled deportation was suspended) ;
 5 have been granted international protection (some refugee status, some subsidiary
protection);
 2 have been deported in Turkey ; one of them was deported on the morning of 13 June 2018
and this was despite the fact that for days he had been expressing to the police his desire to
appeal the rejection of his asylum claim so his deportation was clearly illegal.
Regarding the 32 defendants who were found guilty of dangerous bodily harm, all of them
have appealed against the original sentence.
On 11 May, another trial began concerning 10 other migrants who live in Moria camp, accused of
similar offences. But this time, all were acquitted and discharged.
26

Rapport commun sur la mission d'observation au camp de Moria à Lesbos

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Rapport commun sur la mission d'observation au camp de Moria à Lesbos